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After nineteen years of marriage, Paul David Franklin ("Husband") sued Sherry A.B. Franklin ("Wife") for divorce. Gary Freeman ("Freeman") was granted leave to intervene in the suit to establish the paternity of the younger of the two minor children ("J.A.F.") born during the Franklins'
marriage. After a trial, the Trial court entered a Final Decree of Divorce, inter alia, granting Husband a divorce; holding that Freeman is the biological father of J.A.F., but that Husband is the legal father; distributing the marital property; and awarding primary residential custody of both
minor children to Husband with Wife to have co-parenting time. Wife filed a motion to alter or amend. The Trial Court entered an order altering its decision in light of the then just released Tennessee Supreme Court opinion in In Re: T.K.Y., and terminating Freeman's parental rights to
J.A.F. on the grounds found in Tenn. Code Ann. section 36-1-113(g)(1). Wife and Freeman appeal to this Court raising issues regarding the termination of Freeman's parental rights to J.A.F., the custody of J.A.F., and distribution of the marital property. We reverse the termination of Freeman's parental rights to J.A.F., reverse the Trial Court's order granting custody of J.A.F. to Husband, vacate that portion of the Trial Court's order distributing the marital home, and remand this case to the Trial Court to effectuate the custody transfer of J.A.F. to Wife and for an overall equitable distribution of the marital property in light of our decision in this case.

A corporation filed suit against two of its former employees for violating the terms of a non-compete agreement. The defendants argued that the agreement was rendered unenforceable by changes in the structure of the business and their relationship to it after the agreement was executed. The business was originally a sole proprietorship, and the defendants worked for it as independent contractors. Several years later, the business was chartered as a corporation, but with no change in its ownership
or in its day-to-day operations. The defendants became employees of the corporation while keeping the same compensation, working conditions and duties as before. The trial court granted summary judgment to the employees, ruling that the corporation had no standing to sue because it was not a party to the original agreement. We reverse, because the non-compete agreement was assigned to
the corporation by operation of law.

The petitioner, Willie Joe Frazier, appeals from the Marshall County Circuit Court's dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief, claiming that his convictions in that court were the result of the ineffective assistance of counsel and that the post-conviction court erred in denying a post- hearing motion to amend the petition. The record supports the denial of relief in this case, and we
affirm the circuit court's order.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Rachel West Harmon, Assistant Attorney General; C. Berkeley Bell, Jr., District Attorney General; and Cecil Mills, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: OGLE

The appellant, Matthew Lee Sweet, was convicted by a jury in the Greene County Criminal Court of two counts of aggravated child abuse, and he received an effective sentence of twenty-five years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. No appeal was filed. Thereafter, the appellant filed a petition for post-conviction relief and was granted a delayed appeal. On appeal, the appellant alleges that the trial court erred by refusing to allow him to impeach the testimony of the victimís mother, the trial court erred by "inquiring sua sponte, and in the presence of the jury, whether the State was going to release a witness from her material witness bond," and the evidence is not sufficient to sustain his convictions. Upon our review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; and Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: OGLE

The petitioner, William Thompson, filed in the Bledsoe County Circuit Court a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The habeas corpus court denied the petition, finding that the petitioner's sentence was not illegal. On appeal, the petitioner challenges the habeas corpus court's ruling. In response, the State filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the trial court's denial of relief pursuant to
Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we conclude that the petition was properly denied. Accordingly, the State's motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Elizabeth B. Marney, Assistant Attorney General; Michael L. Flynn, District Attorney General; and Robert L. Headrick, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: GLENN

The defendant, Oscar Torres, Jr., was convicted by a Blount County jury of two counts of rape of a child, a Class A felony, for which he received an effective sentence of twenty years at 100 percent in the Department of Correction. On appeal, he argues that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions and that the trial court committed reversible error by admitting improper rebuttal testimony from the victim. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Davidson County's Foster Care Review Board contends that foster children are being left in limbo because important files have been misplaced, lost or damaged. They blame Juvenile Court Clerk Vic Lineweaver. "I don't know if I care why it's happening. I just want it fixed," Juvenile Court Judge Betty Adams Green said.

After the jury left R.E. Lee Davies' courtroom Saturday, the Williamson County Circuit Court judge overturned the jury's decision to convict a man accused of sexually abusing his stepdaughter. Malcolm Dudley Thomas, 50, had been convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual battery. Davies acquitted Thomas of one change and granted a motion for a new trial on the other charge, saying the 13-year-old girl was "not credible."

Twenty-nine judges, including four Tennessee Supreme Court justices, are attending a mediation skills conference this week at Lipscomb University's Institute for Conflict Management. That level of interest reflects the changing landscape of the civil system says Lipscomb's president and lawyer Randy Lowry. Recent data suggests the same. According to the state's court administrator, 1,491 cases were heard by a mediator in just the first quarter of this year.

U.S. District Judge Bruce Selya of Rhode Island has been named to head the secret court that hears wiretap requests in terrorism cases. Selya, a senior judge on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has been a member of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISA) since 2005. Now, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. is making Selya the court's presiding judge. The designation, which Roberts signed March 27, takes effect May 19.

To view the scene of a murder in which a model was allegedly thrown off a cliff by her boyfriend, Australian lawyers planned to dangle over the side of the precipice in a cage suspended from a crane. Lawyers for the prosecution and defense were to be lowered at the spot in order to decide if the jury should do the same. A judge, however, has ruled the act is above and beyond the call of duty and will not allow it.

The U.S. Courts web site is warning that emails from "O'Melveny & Myers" with subpoenas attached are bogus and should not be opened. Computer users who open the attachments could inadvertently install spyware that logs their keystrokes, apparently communicating with a command center in Singapore.

Plans for the renovation of Williamson County's historic courthouse now include a contemporary-looking elevated glass walkway
that would link the old courthouse with the county's new judicial center. The plans will be submitted to the city's Planning Commission on April 24. Construction of the new additions, which could take 14 months, is expected to begin this summer.

The Nashville City Paper urges lawmakers in an editorial today to pass "progressive changes to the open records laws," without recent amendments by State Rep. Mary Pruitt of Nashville and Rep. Ulysses Jones of Memphis. "If these amendments pass, Tennessee will have taken 20 years worth of backward steps in the arena of open government," the paper says.

The TBA Action List tracks bills in the General Assembly that the TBA has a direct interest in. This means it has either initiated the legislation, taken a postiion on the bill or has a policy on the issue. The TBA Watch List is a broader list of bills of interest to the Tennessee legal community.

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